Thinking of investing in a VoIP business telephone system, but need to know the basics? Here they are…
What does VoIP stand for?
VoIP stands for voice over internet protocol.
What does that mean?
This refers to a combination of technologies which together enable the transmission of voice and messaging communication to take place via a packet-switched (or digital) network, rather than a circuit-switched (analog) telephone network.
How does that work?
With a VoIP network, data packets are transmitted via various nodes (multiple connections) without the need for dedicated (singular) circuits.
Why is that better?
VoIP business phone calls only take up a proportion of the bandwidth of the digital channel used. Analog telephone calls take up the full bandwidth of the channel.
By nature, VoIP is therefore more efficient than analog telephony. It piggybacks on your existing internet networking infrastructure and because of the packet-based method of digital transmission it’s bandwidth usage is minimal and therefore it’s impact is not felt on other networked services (*so long as your network is fast enough).
VoIP business benefits
If you still use the old POTS (plain old telephone system), the following points are reasons why you need to be considering switching your business over to VoIP asap :
1. No hardware or standalone network = MUCH less cost
In short, you get a business phone system, without the invasive set-up of an entirely proprietary network installation.
No on-site engineer needed. No pricey hardware. No mandatory maintenance scheduling.
2. Digitally smart features to keep your team agile & callers occupied
And because it’s digital, you also get the benefit of a load of built-in smart software related features that add value to your call management, like:
- call routing rules: forwarding calls to the most relevant and available agent
- call waiting messages and music: occupying callers considerately whilst they wait
- call recording: taking audio recordings of calls for later auditing or investigation
- call analytics: take overall snaphots of activity levels and performance for reports
3. Unifies all your communication making staying in touch, seamless
Multiple apps and various log-ins can all be tethered into your phone system acting as a hub for controlling all of your digital communications including:
- video conferencing
- instant messaging, like, Slack
- VoIP platform, like, WhatsApp, Telegram etc.
- SMS
- Email
- Collaboration tools, like, Microsoft 365
4. Joined up data and business intelligence
Because VoIP is digital technology, this opens the doors to all sorts of data integration possibilities.
In other words, systems that beforehand were like oil and water and could never mix, now speak a common language and unity that magnifies business benefits.
Here are just some of the systems that are now commonly integrated with VoIP phone systems:
- accounting software
- CRMs
- email platforms
- team collaboration platforms
Drawbacks of VoIP
There are caveats to the benefits and they’re worth identifying as per your risk management:
1. You do need an internet connection
It is voice over internet after all – there is no backup for it you drop your connection. However, there are hybrid systems that offer contingency in the event that your internet connection fails.
2. Not all services connect to emergency services
A reality with some VoIP systems, so if you want to maintain the possibility of direct emergency services calls regardless of call credit, then choose carefully.
3. Goes down if power cuts out
Electricity powers the internet. No power = no internet = no phone system. But then again, the odds of this taking place for most of us is probably negligible and if it does, we’d suffer much more disruption that just our phone line becoming disrupted.
4. Security concerns
It’s possible that VoIP can be hacked and the consequences can be anything from costly to extortionate. Hackers can listen in to calls, place fraudulent calls and jam your network. Generally, once in, hackers have the power to become a long lasting, material problem.
That being said, quality VoIP providers have various in-built security measures to combat this, plus they promote strict user best practices and self-intervention as preventative measure. When fought off competently, the possibility of being hacked becomes very slim.
Conclusion
So, VoIP phone systems over and against analog phone systems offer significant long term cost saving and smart software features that:
- save time
- make the right connections automatically, and;
- inform management of team performance.
And because of the general dependence our businesses have on a viable internet connection anyway, perhaps for digital payments, cloud access to CRMs and accounting systems etc. – it’s not beyond the pale that we would also rely on the same network for our phone calls.
Migrating to VoIP from the old PBXs is relatively straight forward and painless, plus the upside can be witnessed as early on as day 1.
Ready to take a look at a VoIP phone system for your Milton Keynes business?